Fourth person arrested after teen ambushed, buried in woods

Four Florida students hacked a 17-year-old boy with a machete and buried him alive before two of the killers celebrated by having sex near the murder scene, police said.

According to multiple media outlets, Miami-Dade Police arrested Kaheem Arbelo, 20, Jonathan Lucas, 18, Christian Colon, 19, and Desiray Strickland, 18, and charged them with second-degree murder in the connection with the death of Jose Amaya Guardado, 17.

All five were students at the Homestead Job Corps, a live-in school for at-risk youth that enables them to obtain high school diplomas and learn a trade.

Lucas, Arbelo, and Colon were arrested last week and have all reportedly confessed on video. Police expect to arrest a fifth in conjunction with the killing.

Jose’s brothers discovered his body three days after he went missing on June 28. His brother later found the body buried in the woods not far from the Job Corps facility. But one of the suspects allegedly struck him several more times with a machete until the victim’s face caved in, Miami-Dade police wrote in an arrest report Wednesday.

Guardado was last seen on June 28 when he was asked Job Corps administrators if he could leave campus to get food.

Police haven’t established a motive but believe that it may have been linked to a debt Guardado owed to Arbelo. Relatives described Jose as a “peaceful” boy who worked at a flea market selling ice cream.

In a statement released on Wednesday, a Labor department spokesman said “safety and security is our top priority”. According to police, she shoved an investigator, head-butted his chest and flailed about before she was shackled in an interview room.

As Lucas and Colon headed back to campus, Strickland and Arbelo stayed behind to have sex, police said. The arrest warrants detailing their arrests remain sealed by the court. According to the documents, the four allegedly lured Guardado from the school to a nearby wooded area, where they attacked him.

The Miami Herald likened the arrest report to a scene from the novel Lord of the Flies in which a group of teenagers hunt each other like animals.

The suspects got rid of the shovel and murder weapon and attempted to burn their clothes and Guardado’s belongings, the report said.

Arbelo, Lucas and Colon then ambushed Guardado, striking him with the machete and causing massive injuries, police said.